What Purchasing Professionals Have to be Grateful For

What you have to be grateful for is working in the greatest profession on earth. I mean it. Just think about it.

You have power that comes with your position. You have the power to give, and you have the power to take.

You are a people manager, because you have a slew of suppliers and their personnel at your beck and call. If they are not, you are missing an opportunity. There are no individual contributors in our field.

You get to learn contracts and cost analysis, both of which have huge carryovers to your personal life.

You get to learn and practice how to influence people. How to make them want to be with you, instead of them feeling like they *have* to be with you. This applies to work, friends, family, and all aspects of life.

You get to learn how to not achieve what you want without using authority. Beyond workplace benefits, this makes you a better parent – or grandparent – as well.

You are one of two departments in the company who directly generate profit – along with the sales department. And if your company can’t buy, then they can’t sell. Purchasing is critical. Your department is at the center of it all.

Even so, you still don’t have to hinge your livelihood on swinging deals or not like sales people do. You have the money and they don’t. It’s that simple. And all you have to do is manage it right and help them win too.

And the most important thing of all that you should be thankful for as a purchasing professional: The biggest thing to hit business since the internet and the industrial revolution is happening, and that is Supply Chain Management.

And guess which group inside your company will get catapulted to the forefront in leading this new journey?

You guessed it.

There is no better place to be right now than in the purchasing profession.

So take time to appreciate what you have with your job and this profession. It doesn’t get any better than this. Who’s got it better than us?

Happy holidays to all of you, and thank you for giving me the best job in the world.